The Tales of Narino Uzumaki
by DragonMaster Jurabi
Summary: In this story, there is a female Naruto, but her name is Narino. She dreams of becoming the greatest Hokage and becomes a Genin in Squad Seven. Narino is smart and calm in this story.
1. Nariño Uzumaki the Female Ninja

**Author's Note: Heeellllloooo every fan fiction reader and author! I'm Lion C. Simmonds but you can call me Jeremy or Lion. I'm now making yet another Naruto fanfic which features Naruto as (Drum rolllllll) a female. Wut? Yeah, this is going to be one weird fanfic story. Anyways, enjoy, but this female Naruto has a different personality.**

* * *

**Nariño Uzumaki the Female Ninja**

12 years ago, a demon named the Nine-Tailed Fox went on a monstrous rampage on a course for the Leaf Village. Warriors of the Leaf fought the beast to the best of their ability. The fourth Hokage of the Leaf fought and defeated the nine-tailed beast, but the only way to truly stop the demon is to seal it inside an infant child.

_In the present day, a young blonde haired girl_ _was kicking her legs back and forth on the swing set. It was almost sundown and all the parents were gone with their kids. Despite witnessing this scenario and outcome so much it still stings. She feels awful at many things: no one really cared if she didn't have anyone to go home 's left in the street at night;cold in her poorly endowed home. That she's just a back drop and people are too wrapped up in their own lives and problems to give a rat's ass about her._

Many years later, the blonde girl, who is now 12 years old, walked to the Leaf Village Academy; she has ocean blue eyes and wore an orange and blue jumpsuit with thin arm warmers, an orange knee long skirt, and black long socks as well as orange heels. An interesting trait about her is that she has what looks like whisker lines on her cheeks.

Her name is Nariño Uzumaki. She's always calm and collected in time of a difficult situation and she never gets into deep trouble. As Nariño walked through to village, she sees some of the villagers giving her cold looks and most of the children hid behind their mothers.

_"Again with the looks everyone gives me…Why do they always do that? I've done nothing wrong to them at all."_ She thought. She decided to ignore the looks and proceeded to the Academy.

**At the Academy…**

Nariño sat at her usual desk at the academy while she gets ready for the final exam. Even though she failed the three times, she still feels confident that she will finally pass this exam.

"Alright everyone," Iruka, the academy instructor said, "You all are finally going to take your graduation exams. First off you'll need to…"

Nariño listened to Iruka Sensai until she jumped at the word, "Clone Jutsu." She knew that not being able to do that simple Jutsu no matter how hard she tried is the reason why she didn't graduate from the academy for the last three times. But she knew that this is her moment to shine and besides, number four is a lucky number…is it?

Nariño heard her name being called as she walks into the examination room. "_This time for sure!"_ she thought with confidence.

As she took the exam, Nariño has scored perfect on ninja vocabulary, visual simulation, and ninja rules section. This was not a surprise because Nariño had always excelled in these areas at school. Nariño's scores were always failures when it came to the categories of kunai throwing, evasion, and close combat. However, not only did Nariño pass those sections this time, she scored very high scores on each subject. On the comment side, it said that Nariño had slipped during the evasion section once and that one of his punches didn't hit the dummy. For Nariño, that was a huge improvement to how she usually performed on those sections. But in the last section of the exam, Jutsu execution: This section was the portion where everyone had to execute a random, basic Jutsu. Nariño had apparently received the same Jutsu that everyone else did: The Clone Jutsu. Nariño unfortunately failed this part. Iruka commented that Nariño produced a pale clone that was not able to stand or provide a convincing distraction. Nariño, herself, was panting heavily after completing the Jutsu.

"I'm sorry to tell you this Nariño but I'm afraid that you…"

"Wait Iruka, can't you just let Nariño graduate," Mizuki asked, "She has worked as hard for the past three years as everyone else and she really wants to be a Leaf Shinobi."

"I'm sorry Mizuki," Iruka says with a sorry face, "but Nariño is required to create an exact replica of herself to pass just like everyone else was, and look at it. Unfortunately, it's pathetic. I'll have to fail her."

Nariño only put a look of immense sadness at the fact that she failed yet again.

**Later Outside…**

Nariño was sitting alone on a swingset with emotionless eyes as the graduates celebrate their graduations. Two women were giving her cold looks from a distance.

"Is that her over there," a woman said.

"Yeah that's her, the-,"

"Shhh, we're not supposed to talk about it."

"I heard that she was the only one who failed."

"That's good. Wouldn't it be awful if someone like her were to become a ninja?"

Nariño never really understood why people do this to her. Always giver ice-cold looks of hatred, call her names. She could never figure it out and that's the thing that crushes her. The fact that she doesn't know the source of the villagers' hatred towards her. She decided to take a walk and figure out why the village hates her and get over the sadness of not passing the exam for the fourth time. That was when a figured appeared in front of her, it was Mizuki Sensai.

"Mizuki Sensai," Nariño says, "What are you doing here?"

"I was taking a little walk until I noticed you and felt bad for you. I'm sorry that you didn't pass the exam Nariño. You had every right to be a Leaf Shinobi," Mizuki says as he puts his hand on Nariño's shoulder, "I guess I'll just have to tell you the secret."

Nariño shot her head up and gave Mizuki a confused look.

"Secret? What secret?" she asked.

If this "secret" is going to help her become a Leaf Shinobi then hell yeah she was going along with it.

**Later that Night…**

There was a loud knock on Iruka's front door. When he opened the door, he finds Mizuki panting.

"Mizuki, what's wrong," Iruka asks.

"Iruka…you need…to come…quickly," Mizuki says catching his breath, "Its Nariño. She snuck into the Hokage tower and stole one of the sacred scrolls!"

"She did what?!"

**With the Hokage…**

"Do you all understand the situation," the Hokage says briefing the guards, "Bring Nariño back here at once."

"Yes sir," the guards shouted as they disappeared.

**With Iruka…**

Iruka was searching the village trying to find Nariño.

"_This is bad. I know that she failed the exam so why steal the scroll_," He thought, "_Not only that; no one but the high ranked Jonin and the Hokage know the location of the scrolls so how did Nariño know where to look_?"

**With Nariño…**

Nariño had finally stopped in a clearing of the forest. Ever since her talk with Mizuki, Nariño had taken the necessary steps of fulfilling her dream of being a ninja.

**(Flashback)**

Nariño was shocked and relieved that there was another way to become a ninja. "What do I have to do, Mizuki sensei?" she said excitedly.

Mizuki laughed at Nariño's eagerness. "Calm down. It's actually not that difficult. All you have to do is grab one of the Jutsu scrolls from the Hokage's office. In those scrolls are Jōnin level Jutsu. If you learn one of them you will be more than skilled enough to be a ninja. However," Nariño frowned at this word, "If you are found before you can learn the Jutsu, you will lose the chance to ever become a ninja."

Nariño thought about the task that was offered in front of her. She didn't know if she could accomplish the task. Plus, she also feared what could happen if she failed. But she did want to become a ninja, as well as show Iruka that she was serious about it. "I'll do it."

**(End Flashback)**

Nariño smiled as she set the giant scroll down. She didn't find the first part of the "extra credit" to be difficult at all. There was no one around the Third Hokage's office and there was a large assortment of scrolls to choose from. The hardest part of the assignment was carrying the scroll throughout the forest. She decided to learn the Jutsu straights away so she could become a ninja fast as possible.

She opened the scroll and looked at the first Jutsu: Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu. Nariño eyes went wide with shock. When it came to producing shadow clones, Nariño was not able to accomplish that feat. Out of all the Jutsu that she attempted to perform, this Jutsu always turned out the worse. In fact, the shadow clone Jutsu was the reason she was in this predicament in the forest.

Nariño took a deep breath to calm down. "If I learn this Jutsu, then no other Jutsu will be a problem anymore," Nariño said to herself. She looked at the instructions for the advanced Jutsu and started practicing.

**With Iruka…**

Iruka passed through the forest until he reached a clearing. When he stood in the clearing, he immediately saw the missing scroll opened up. A few meters away, he saw that it was his favorite sensei. She stood up and gave her sensei a big smile. "You won't believe it, Iruka sensei. I did it."

"Did what?" Iruka asked confused. He looked at Nariño and noticed that she looked just like she did when he took his exit exam earlier today.

"Mizuki told me about the extra credit assignment, where I have to learn a Jutsu from the scroll, and I did it."

"Wait, what?"

Iruka then sensed shuriken come at Nariño as he pushed her out of the way while he gets pinned by the shuriken. One of them stabbed Iruka in the left leg. Iruka and Nariño look at the direction the shuriken came from and saw Mizuki with a large shuriken and an evil grin.

"Mizuki," Iruka yelled at his childhood friend, "What are you doing?"

Mizuki just laughed at Iruka, "What do you think I'm doing? I'm getting rid of the Uzumaki brat once and for all."

"Mizuki sensei, what are you talking about? Your joking…right?" Nariño asked with tears falling from her eyes.

"No Nariño, I'm not. It's about time I tell you the truth isn't it?" Mizuki said. "The question must be in your mind now: Why the entire village rejects you when you only wish to become a part of them."

"Don't do it Mizuki! I don't know if Nariño will be able to take the truth!"

"What truth Iruka Sensai," Nariño asks.

"Well since both of you are going to die, I probably should spill the beans," Mizuki says, "Nariño Uzumaki, you hold the Nine-Tailed Fox within you."

Nariño's eyes widened with surprise. She had heard that the fox had destroyed the village until the Fourth Hokage stopped it, but she had no idea that the demon was put inside of her.

"That's why the villagers hate you, because _you_ killed their friends and family, including your beloved sensei's parents."

Nariño began crying over the thought of killing innocent people. Iruka begins taking the shuriken that pinned her down.

"Nariño! Take the scroll and get out of here," Iruka says taking out the shuriken in his leg, "I'll hold him off for you."

Mizuki gave an evil smirk.

"Like I'll let you get away with the powers of the scroll," he says readying a giant shuriken, "Die Demon girl!"

Mizuki threw the giant shuriken at Nariño. Nariño tries to run away but she trips and could only waited to be hit. Though the sound of impact was heard, Nariño was not hurt. She turns to see that Iruka shielded her from the strike. His back had the giant shuriken pressed on it and it was bleeding. Nariño had a look of confusion and horror in her eyes.

"I…Iruka Sensai! Wh…Why," Nariño says as Iruka's tears fell on her face.

"I'm so sorry Nariño. If only I had known about this, I would have been there sooner to protect you from the villager's hatred. I will tell you this: You didn't kill anyone," Iruka says shocking Nariño, "Throughout the days I spent with you, you've shown me that you're a kind person with a good heart, and there's nothing anyone can say to change my mind."

Mizuki only laughed at Iruka's remarks.

"Nariño, grab the scroll and run away. Just go, NOW," Iruka said. Nariño squirmed from under Iruka, grabbed the scroll, and took off running in the trees. Iruka stood up took the shuriken out of back and faced Mizuki.

**5 minutes later…**

Nariño was now sitting in a forest clearing, far away the clearing she was in earlier. The weight of the scroll, along with all the training that she did, left Nariño unable to travel very far. She decided to wait for her sensei to find him.

Nariño could not believe the situation that she was in. Mizuki-sensei had lied to her about an extra credit assignment so that he could finish her off. Also, she had put Iruka-sensei in terrible danger, and had no idea if he is okay. Two ideas went through Nariño's mind on what she should do next. Either she could stay there and wait for Iruka, or Mizuki, to catch up to him, or she could go and get some help, leaving the scroll unguarded.

Before Nariño could make a decision, Iruka-sensei came into the clearing. He looked at Nariño and smiled. "Good, Mizuki hasn't found you yet. Come on, give me the scroll and then we can find some help."

Nariño stayed seated on the scroll. Something did not add up. Iruka looked completely healthy, as if he didn't fight at all. Nariño decided to test if it was really Iruka and threw a kunai knife at him. The Iruka imposter dodged and then smirked.

"Looks like you're not as stupid as I thought, "Demon Brat". Doesn't matter, I'm still going to kill you," Mizuki said as he got out of the Iruka disguise.

He prepared to throw a large shuriken at the blond girl. Thoughts filled Nariño's head from putting Iruka in danger to the fact that a demon lives inside of her. She can't stand it, being treated like a weakling. All she wants is to become strong so people will accept her or at least not hate her.

"That's it," Nariño shouts. "I'm not going to stand around and watch my friends get hurt anymore," Nariño says as she prepares a Jutsu, "Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

50 Nariño clones surrounded Mizuki shocking him. All of them rushed at him and only the sounds of screaming and beatings were heard.

**With Iruka…**

Iruka was rushing after Mizuki since he disappeared after Nariño.

"I can't believe Mizuki became so fast. I just hope he hasn't done anything to her."

Iruka finally reached a tree that had the scroll resting on it. Iruka looked past the tree seeing a clearing with two figures sprawled across the ground, unconscious. Iruka approached the two figures and realized that it was Nariño and Mizuki. He reached Nariño's body first with fear on his face. He gave a sigh of relief when he noticed that Nariño had passed out due to an overuse of chakra. He then turned his attention to Mizuki who looked as if he was hit by a car, truck, train, boat, and plane.

"It serves you right, you traitor," Iruka spat at his former friend and comrade.

Nariño, then, starred to stir and Iruka focused his attention to his student. He turned to see the blond girl sitting up and rubbing her face.

"Looks like you can put up a decent fight."

Nariño turned around to see his Chūnin instructor and friend smiling at him. Nariño quickly scrambled to her feet and ran behind a tree, hiding from her sensei. Iruka gave Nariño a half amused, half confused smile as he walked towards the tree.

"What's the problem," Iruka asks confused.

Nariño looked down as she clung to the tree she was hiding behind.

"Why are you being nice to me, Iruka sensei, when I killed your parents?"

Iruka gave Nariño a confused look, not knowing what she was talking about. Nariño started crying and shocking as he struggled to continue.

"You heard Mizuki sensei didn't you? I am the Nine-Tailed Fox. He said that the entire village hated me because I killed their friends and family. I'm so sorry that I did all those things."

Iruka looked at his students with a frown. Hearing Nariño apologize for something that she didn't do was too much for Iruka to bear. He put his arm on Nariño's shoulder to comfort Nariño. Nariño's crying turned to silent sob and her shaking died down. She looked up at her sensei with a somber look.

"I told you Nariño, you're not the Nine-Tailed Fox." Iruka says. "You carry the great burden of containing the feral demon, and the people of this village hate you because they don't understand that you have saved them, not hurt them. The Fourth Hokage himself declared you a hero for holding the spirit of the fox within yourself. You are the hero of the Hidden Leaf Village, Nariño Uzumaki, not the destroyer."

"But why," Nariño asked, "Why are you telling me this now?"

"It was a law set by the Third Hokage. No village was allowed to talk about the Nine-Tailed Fox of harm the holder in any way. The only time this law can be ignored is if the holder, you, decided to talk about it. You were not supposed to find out until you were ready," Iruka says giving a hard stare at the unconscious Mizuki, "I'm sorry that I didn't bring it up until now."

Nariño was glad to hear that.

"Thank you Iruka-sensei for being polite to me."

Iruka chuckled at Nariño's comment. Iruka took his headband off and put it on the head of the remarkable girl.

"Don't sweat it. Besides, I'm nice to my fellow ninja."

Nariño touched the headband on her head; her eyes became wide with shock.

"You mean... I ..."

"Yes. Nariño, you have, as of now, graduated from the ninja academy. You are now a full-fledged shinobi of the Hidden Leaf Village. Congratulations!"

Nariño couldn't believe her ears. The dream that she has waited for a long time has finally come true. Despite all the people that said she couldn't do it, Nariño's determination had finally paid off. Unable to control herself, Nariño started to shed tears of joy as she hugged her former sensei.

"Thank you, Iruka sensei!"

"Now then, you are to be at the academy at 8:00 so you can be assigned to your new Sensai and fellow shinobi comrades, Understand," Iruka asks.

"Yes sir," Nariño said.

Iruka smiled as he led Nariño back to the village.

**_To Be Continued…_**

**_Author's Note: And there's the first chapter. Nariño is way different from the canon Naruto since she's a girl. If you want to see a tomboy, look at my other Naruto fanfic. I hope that you enjoyed this chapter and please review._**

**_Next Time: Nariño has finally graduated from the academy and is now an honorary Hidden Leaf Shinobi. She is now assigned to Squad Seven along with Sasuke Uchiha and Sakura Haruno and her new Jonin, Kakashi Hatake._**


	2. Squad Seven and Kakashi Hatake

**Squad Seven and Kakashi Hatake**

Nariño wakes up as smile went on her face when she remembers about last night and herself finally becoming a Genin. She put on her clothes and brushed her teeth and walked outside on her way to the academy. As she was walking, Nariño sees a peculiar figure. The figure was trying to blend in the environment, but Nariño saw through it and she knew who it was. A little boy with a helmet who wore a t-shirt with the Leaf Village symbol on it jumped out of the obvious disguise.

"I've got you now Nariño Uzumaki," the boy shouted. But he tripped and fell on the ground rubbing his head. "A cheap trick, but I'd expect as much from my rival."

"I didn't even do anything Konohamaru," Nariño says sweat-dropping.

Konohamaru is the Third Hokage's grandson. At first he and Nariño never got along with each other, but Nariño only called him his real name while other people saw him as the Third Hokage's grandson.

"Alright then, let's fight! Right here, right now," Konohamaru said.

"Sorry Konohamaru, but I need to get to my renovation." Nariño shows Konohamaru her official Genin headband. "I'm now an honorary Leaf Genin."

"Wow!"

"Well, I'll see you around sometime."

**At the Academy…**

Nariño walk into the classroom and sits in her regular seat and that was when Sakura Haruno and Ino Yamanaka came rushing into the door.

"I'm first!" They both shouted.

They again begin to argue over who was first. Sasuke Uchiha couldn't help but sweat-drop.

_"I can't believe fan-girls can be so annoying,"_ He thought.

That was when Iruka Sensai appeared starting the class.

"Welcome all of you," Iruka says, "I'm very proud of you for making it this far. You are all now official Genin in training. I will now assign you all to teammates and to your Jonin Sensai."

**Squad Seven: Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno, and Nariño Uzumaki**.

Sakura couldn't suppress the excitement and happiness inside her as she screamed at the top of her lungs at the fact that she's on the same team as Sasuke.

_"Nariño?"_ Sasuke thought as he looked at Nariño. He then began to blush at Nariño's beautiful blue eyes and pretty blonde hair, but Sasuke shook it off.

**Squad Eight: Kiba Inuzuka, Hinata Hyuga, and Shino Aburame.**

And finally, **Squad Ten: Ino Yamanaka, Shikamaru Nara, and Choji Akimichi.**

Sakura looked at Ino with a proud look on her face.

"How did you get to be on Sasuke's team?!" Ino said in an annoyed tone.

"Pure love and destiny Ino," Sakura answered, "You should probably look it up."

"Alright, after lunch you are to report back here to meet with you new Sensai. I'm proud of all of you and good luck in the future." Iruka said before disappearing.

**After lunch…**

Nariño was tapping the floor with her foot waiting for the Squad Seven Sensai. He was 15 minutes late and it's really annoying her.

"Where is our Sensai? He's late," Nariño asked.

"I'm sure he probably got lost Nariño," Sakura says.

Nariño calms down and decided to be patient for the late Jonin. A few minutes passed until finally a gray spiky haired man with a mask covering his mouth and his left eye walked through the door.

"Finally. He's here," Nariño said.

"Please forgive me for being late. I kind of dozed off in my mind a while ago." the man explained.

_"Yeah right, we all know that you were doing something UN-Jonin like."_ Nariño thought.

"The name Kakashi Sensai, and now that we've finally met up, why don't we go somewhere for a little chat," the man named Kakashi said.

On a rooftop of a building, Squad Seven are having a chat.

"Alright everyone, why don't you introduce yourselves before we go on," Kakashi says confusing everyone.

"Wait, what you want us to say," Sakura asks.

"Well…you name first, your likes and dislikes, and your goals for the future. Something like that."

"Can't you introduce yourself first," Nariño asks, "To show us how its' done?"

"Very well then…My name is Kakashi Hatake. My likes are…well I like a lot of things. My dislikes…well I don't like a lot of things. And my goals for the future…well it has something to do with something. Now your turn."

Nariño and Sakura sweat-dropped

"He only told us his name and nothing more," Sakura says a bit irritated.

Nariño then stands up to introduce herself.

"My name is Nariño Uzumaki. The things I like the most are ramen and spending time with my friends. What I hate in this world are people who think less of me. My dream is to become the greatest Hokage, that way everyone will look up to me!"

"Interesting," Kakashi says.

"My name is Sakura Haruno. I like flowers and having friends. My dislikes are people who pick on me because of my large forehead. My dream is to win the love of a certain someone," Sakura says looking at Sasuke while blushing.

"Hmm…Nice."

"My name is Sasuke Uchiha. I hate a lot of things and I don't particularly like anything. What I have is not a dream because I will make it a reality. I'm going to restore my clan and destroy a certain someone."

"I see…"

_"Whoa…I should probably keep my distance," _Nariño thought.

"So Kakashi Sensai," Sakura says, "What's going to be our first mission?"

"Our first mission," Kakashi asks.

"Yeah our first mission! Tell us please!"

"Well, out first mission…is a Survival Exercise."

Nariño, Sasuke, and Sakura put confused looks on their faces.

"Wait! What do you mean by Survival Exercise," Nariño asks.

"Yeah! We're official Shinobi Ninjas and we're supposed to go on missions and adventures," Sakura shouted in agreement, "Not exercise."

"So why are we taking this exercise," Sasuke asks.

Kakashi started laughing at Sasuke's questions.

"What's so important about taking the exercise Sensai," Sakura asks.

"Well if I tell you, you won't like it," Kakashi told.

"Well, tell us anyway," Nariño says, "We can take it."

"Your funeral. Out of all the graduating students who were assigned to 22 different squads, only 9 squads are allowed to become Genin. Those who fail are sent back at the academy. And if I do my math right I'd say that you guys have a…66% chance of failing."

Nariño, Sasuke, and Sakura's mouths dropped to the floor and their entire bodies became white in pale that ever their clothes were white.

"See…I told you that you wouldn't like it."

"Now wait a second," Nariño shouted, "Then what was the point of being at the academy if we were going to be sent back?!

"The academy has taught you how to perform certain Jutsu as well as how to even throw a kunai knife. It gives the candidates who will become Genin. Just pray that you guys are the lucky ones," Kakashi says as he stands up, "The Survival Test will begin at the training field at 4:00 a.m. Oh Yeah! Be sure not to eat any breakfast, otherwise you'll puke."

With that, Kakashi disappeared.

**4:00 in the morning…**

Nariño, Sasuke, and Sakura all arrived at the practice field with stomachs growling.

"Hey guys," Nariño says rubbing her stomach, "You didn't eat anything either?"

"No! I didn't even eat dinner. This is going to be a total bummer," Sakura complains.

**2 hours later…**

Kakashi finally appears in front of the Squad who were irritated at the fact that their Sensai was late at the first training day.

"Sorry about being late guys, a black cat crossed my way so I had to take the long way around," Kakashi says, "By the way, I told you not to eat any breakfast on purpose just to see how well you can do at a disadvantage. At least you won't puke"

"Yeah right," Sakura says sarcastically.

_"I'm so hungry,"_ Nariño thought loudly.

"So, what do we do on the Survival Test Sensai," Sakura asks.

"It's simple," Kakashi says setting a time clock on a tree trunk, "All you need to do is hide and then take these two bells from me.

Kakashi takes out two bells.

"You have 3 hours or its back to the academy for you."

* * *

**_To Be Continued…_**

**_Author's Note: I want to make this story a little original instead of canon like so I'm asking you, my readers, to give me advice on abilities Nariño learns instead of the ones Naruto learned. She'll still learn Naruto's moves but I want to be original. I hope you liked this chapter._**

**_~Stay True~_**

**_Next Time: Nariño, Sasuke, and Sakura try their best to take the two bells away from Kakashi but it proves to be difficult. The three Genin gather around to formulate a plan._**


	3. The Bell Test

**The Bell Test**

Watching Kakashi-sensei set up a timer, Nariño suddenly felt very, very apprehensive. There was no way she was going back to the academy. Absolutely no way. Whatever the hell he wanted, she'd do it. Do it with two-hundred percent.

"OK, it's set for noon," the Jonin began. "Here are two bells. Your task is to take these from me before then. Those who cannot get a bell by noon get no lunch. I'll not only tie you to one of those stumps, but also eat right in front of you."

On cue, Nariño's stomach growled loudly.

"You only need to get one bell. Since there are only two bells, one of you is definitely not eating. Also, the person who doesn't get a bell fails. So one of you is definitely going back to the Academy."

And that was the point she'd had enough.

"What the hell kind of test is that!" Nariño yelled, stepping forward. Even glaring at their teacher, she could see Sakura and Sasuke scowl. "If we're going to be split up anyway, why the hell did we have to be on the same team in the first place?! And what the hell kind of system is it, putting the lowest and highest scores together, then?"

The Jonin blinked.

"So, what's this about? Trying to make sure Uchiha boy here passes? As if he didn't get enough privileges already!"

"Enough," Kakashi-sensei finally barked, shutting Nariño up. "This is how things are done. You may even use your shuriken. You won't succeed unless you come at me intending to kill."

"Start on my mark." His single eye slid shut, and then snapped open as he barked, "Begin!"

Nariño along with Sasuke and Sakura disappeared pretty quickly.

Nariño, in her hiding spot, sees Kakashi pull out an orange book. She knows full well that rushing at him head on is pointless.

She then saw Kakashi move toward her location.

That was when Sasuke attacked, unleashing a quick barrage of weapons with almost perfect timing. He'd seen Kakashi appear off guard. Too bad all it did was put a few new holes in some poor wooden block and give away the dark-haired Genin's position.

Kakashi however, accidentally dropped a bell so Nariño took this chance to get the bell, but something felt a little fishy since Kakashi didn't seem like the kind of person to just leave the bell for anyone to take. As Nariño got closer, she then look up and saw a trap that would have been sprung if she carelessly went over to pick the bell up. She disarmed Kakashi's trap and went for the bell.

Just as the girl reached to grab the small bell, Kakashi made his re-entrance, swooping down on her spectacularly. The girl whipped around to face him and seemed to freeze in terror/surprise, but just as he was about to toss her into the nearest lake. Nariño was good at staying underwater for a long time and managed to get out.

That was when the timer rang, Kakashi collected the half-buried Sasuke, which he buried underground while Nariño was in the lake and tied him to the middle post.

Nariño and Sakura trudged in slowly, wearily and stared. Kakashi motioned for them to sit down, and they obeyed without question, moving to either side of their teammate.

"Well," he began in a deceptively mild tone, "there's no need for you to worry about going back to the Academy…"

Three surprised, hopeful looks…

"Because none of you will ever become shinobi."

"What!" Nariño jumped to her feet, gesturing desperately. "You can't just…just…" She clenched her fists, shaking silently for a moment.

"I won't!" she declared, charging at the Jonin. He'd expected that from one of them. In a movement too fast for any of the genin to catch, he had the girl pinned to ground without even an inch of leverage. She wouldn't be getting out of this, no matter how flexible.

"All of you are just brats," Kakashi continued calmly. "Are you trying to make fun of the shinobi with your behavior? Did you wonder even for a moment what the point of this exercise was?"

"It's to see whose good enough to be a genin!" Sakura answered, eyes flicking from the Jonin to the girl. "You told us that!"

"Yes, I did. This was a test, like I said. But what do you think I was testing you for? You're Ninjutsu, Taijutsu? All those things were already tested in the Academy. That's how your rankings were assigned."

"So then what? Just tell us already!" Nariño asked.

Kakashi sighed, in the back of his mind. "It's teamwork." That shut them up. All three were silent and still. "If the three of you had come at me together, you might have been able to take the bells."

"But there's only two!" Sakura pointed out.

"Of course. This task was designed to divide you. The whole point was to see which of you would set aside your personal interests for the sake of the group. Instead…"

He turned to Sakura first. "…You, Sakura, all you cared about was Sasuke. So concentrated on him that you completely ignored your other teammate Nariño."

Next, Nariño. "… You, Nariño, you tried too hard to do everything by yourself and didn't have faith in your comrade's strength."

And finally, "You, Sasuke, didn't even try to work with the others, already judging them to be excess baggage."

Nariño looked appropriately chastised. She was always scared of losing her friends if she ever made any. Even though she had only met Sakura and Sasuke for less than a day, she consider them as friends. Sakura scowled, anger and annoyance bubbling underneath. And Sasuke…he looked angrier than anything.

"You're a team! Act like one! Yes, it's necessary for ninja to have individual skills, but what is even more important now is teamwork!" Kakashi reached into his bag, "Acting as an individual is bad for the team and exposes your comrades to unnecessary danger. You might as well kill them yourself." he took out a kunai knife, "For example…Sakura! Kill Sasuke! Or Nariño dies." For a moment, looking at the glinting kunai in his hand, they actually believed him.

"The day could come when one of you may be taken hostage, and you're forced to make such a choice. Even if your individual performance is perfect, you may end up losing a teammate during a mission."

After getting off of Nariño, Kakashi walked to a memorial and traced the familiar names in his mind. He was getting off topic.

"Look at this marker. All the names carved in the stone are heroes of our village: Ninja. All of them…died in the line of duty."

Nariño began to think hard, _"Maybe my parents were Shinobi…"_

"This memorial…includes the names of my closest friends." Turning around, Kakashi studied the three. Nariño had paled suddenly, seeing something only her mind knew. Sakura swallowed heavily, looking away. And Sasuke…had the oddest expression…

"…Pay attention…I'm giving you one last chance. This'll be far more difficult that our last little game with the bells. You may eat one of the bento boxes, but no sharing with Sasuke, since he fell shortest of the goal." Both Sakura and Nariño looked terribly upset at that. "If either of you feeds him, you fail the test right there. My word is law. Do you understand?"

Without waiting for response, the Jonin disappeared, relocating to the nearest clump of trees.

Sasuke was pointedly ignoring the other two as they settled down with their lunch.

"Hey, Sakura!" Nariño called abruptly, and her teammate turned to her in surprise. "Give me your chopsticks."

"What? Why?" Sakura asked.

"It's not like you need them," she reasoned, reaching into her weapons pouch. "And Uchiha's using mine since I haven't gotten them all slobbery yet."

With a short flick of her kunai, the ropes tying Sasuke to the stump fell away. Sakura stared while the girl waved her lunch in Sasuke's general direction.

"We'll split it half and half, so all the members will get the same amount," she explained.

"But what about…" Sakura gestured vaguely, apparently unable to form a complete sentence.

"Oh, him." Nariño shrugged. "Whatever. All this underneath the underneath stuff's giving me a headache. In any case, I've weighed the pros and cons, you know. Sasuke's fan club already hates me since I'm not part of it and am on the same team as Sasuke." She smiled, looking sideways at the slightly blushing Uchiha as he slid onto the ground next to her. "And besides, now I can say Uchiha owes me one."

It wasn't what he would have hoped for, but it was better than nothing.

That was when Kakashi suddenly appeared enraged. "YOU!"

"K-Kakashi sensei!" Sakura shouted in fear.

"Wait Kakashi, I can explain."

"You've disobeyed my orders which were to NOT feed Sasuke any food!" Kakashi said.

"Yeah, but you said that the three of us are a team," Sakura said.

"And the three of us are one. So you can send all three of us back to the academy!" Nariño stated with pride.

"Very well then…you all…" all three of them braced themselves for the final word, "Pass."

Nariño, Sakura, and Sasuke looked at Kakashi with confusion, "Wha-?"

"You all pass." Kakashi said with a hidden smile.

Nariño smiled as she was very happy to have finally become a Genin while Sakura shouts in joy while hugging Sasuke who gave a little scowling face.

"Our first mission will begin tomorrow so report to the Hokage's Tower at 8:00." With that, Kakashi disappeared.

* * *

**_To Be Continued…_**

**_Author's Note: Sorry this took a while, making the story noncanon like are a pain in the brain. I also like to thank "Layellee" for the suggestions. Until next chapter, see ya._**

**_Next Time: After a set of boring D-ranked missions, Nariño protests that they should have actual missions. Since they were given a low C-ranked mission, Nariño changes into a much attractive set of clothing which distracts Sasuke a bit too much, but he somehow manages to cope with it as Squad Seven escorts a bridge builder to the Land of Waves._**


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